Vancouver home prices climb again, condos rise the most

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

May 2 (Reuters) - Home sales in the Vancouver region’s once red-hot housing market fell sharply in April compared with a year ago but prices, which had dipped slightly in recent months, rose again notably for condominiums, data released on Tuesday showed.

The benchmark price for all types of residential properties in Metro Vancouver, Canada’s most expensive real estate market, was C$941,100($686,583.50) in April, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver said.

That was up 5 percent over the past three months and 11.4 percent higher compared with a year ago.

For condominiums, the benchmark price was C$554,100 last month, a 16.6 percent jump over the past 12 months and 3.1 percent more than a buyer would have paid in March.

In the condominium and townhome markets, demand has been increasing for months and supply is not keeping pace, said the board’s president, Jill Oudil.

“This dynamic is causing prices to increase and making multiple-offer scenarios the norm,” she said in a statement.

Sales in Vancouver’s housing market have slowed since the provincial government of British Columbia imposed a 15 percent foreign buyers tax in August 2016 amid concern that speculation by global investors, mostly from mainland China, was fueling a bubble.

Sales of single-family homes in April fell nearly 39 percent to 1,211 compared with the same month last year. Sales of condominiums slid 18.3 percent to 1,722. ($1 = 1.3707 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Nicole Mordant in Vancouver; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)